People With Rheumatoid Arthritis Can Still Get Gout

It has long been believed that people with rheumatoid arthritis cannot get gout, but a new study from the Mayo Clinic has shown different.

The reason it was thought that people with rheumatoid arthritis didn’t get gout was probably because of the way that rheumatoid arthritis used to be treated, says Dr Eric Matteson who led the research. These people used to be given high doses of aspirin, which also helped their kidneys get rid of uric acid. But because aspirin is now used less for rheumatoid arthritis, gout in this group is on the rise.

“It is probably true that flares of rheumatoid arthritis in some cases might have actually been flares of gout, and that the gout wasn’t diagnosed; it wasn’t realized that it was a coexistent problem,” he says. “Awareness that gout does exist in patients with rheumatoid arthritis hopefully will lead to better management of gout in those patients.”

The team also put forward evidence that gut bacteria can treat autoimmune disorders, rheumatoid arthritis patients are at higher risk for cancer, broken bones put rheumatoid arthritis patients in greater danger of heart disease and death and that corticosteroids are still a valuable treatment of rheumatoid arthritis treatment – even as new drugs emerge.